Harvick?s dash for cash
Let?s make one thing perfectly clear: Drivers are athletes, too.
It?s pretty easy when watching a NASCAR race to forget that inside those stock cars, the human beings at the wheel are driving their vehicles in much the same way as Albert Pujols swings a bat, or Peyton Manning throws a football. The cover of this February?s ESPN The Magazine featuring the muscular Carl Edwards illustrates this. It?s a powerful image; the men we remember from the previous generation of racers were, for the most part, older and less concerned with low body-fat percentages. Then again, the same can be said for many sports.
Not only do more drivers have the same physical characteristics as ?conventional? athletes, they also have the same financial motivations. Take Kevin Harvick, for example. The California native is in the final year of his contract with Richard Childress Racing. Rival teams are reportedly lining up to sign the 2001 Rookie of the Year to a big-money deal. Other athletes can be counted on to perform to the best of their abilities during so-called contract seasons. Handicappers can expect the same dedication from Harvick.
It?s been quite a week for the man from Bakersfield. Harvick swept both the Nextel Cup race and the Busch Series race at Phoenix International Raceway, the first driver ever to pull off the feat in Phoenix. His victory at the Subway Fresh 500 also put Harvick in eighth place in the driver?s standings. It was his fourth Top-10 finish in a row after a slow start.
The pressure will build on Harvick at Sunday?s race, the Aaron?s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The race comes the day after what would have been Dale Earnhardt?s 55th birthday; Harvick replaced Earnhardt on the RCR team after the legendary driver was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. However, Harvick has not yet been able to find the same success at Talladega that his predecessor did. None of Harvick?s six career Nextel Cup wins have come there, or at any other race with restrictor plates. That leaves Harvick in sixth place on the odds list at +1200 to take the checkered flag on Sunday.
Money isn?t the only motivating force for athletes. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has chosen to honor his father this weekend by having all his DEI team?s cars painted black. That includes Earnhardt?s own No. 8 as well as the No. 1 car being driven by rookie Martin Truex, Jr. The visual effect of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. racing in a car with the same paint scheme as his father?s old No. 3 will bring a tear to the collective eye of the millions of NASCAR fans who still worship ?The Intimidator.?
The younger Earnhardt has also followed in his father?s footsteps by excelling at the fine art of restrictor-plate racing. The senior Earnhardt won this week?s event (formerly known as the Winston 500) three times, while Earnhardt Jr. took first place in 2002 and 2003. The combination of past success and present circumstances has ?Little E? on top of the odds list at +400 to match his father?s win total.
Earnhardt could certainly use a win. Although he?s currently in sixth place in the driver?s standings, he has yet to taste victory this season, and he only has one first-place finish under his belt since 2004. That?s the same kind of slump Jeff Gordon has had to endure. The four-time Cup champion won the last two Aaron?s 499 races, but has just one victory to his credit since then. Perhaps he will find his mojo somewhere on the Talladega track. Gordon is getting +500 odds to do so.
Not that previous success at Talladega guarantees you short odds this Sunday. All athletes eventually must succumb to the effects of age; drivers are no different, although their careers can last a lot longer. Mark Martin is one of those old salts whose numbers seem to be dwindling in the face of younger and better-conditioned drivers, although he?s proving he can still get the job done, currently sitting in fourth place in the standings. The 47-year-old won this event in 1995 and 1997. Throw in Roush Racing?s recent track record and Martin?s consistency thus far in 2006 (his worst finish was 13th at the DIRECTV 500), and he may be the best value pick for Sunday at +3000. But, like Earnhardt and Gordon, checkered flags have been hard to come by of late. Martin has just one win in each of the past two seasons.
The green flag is set to fly at 1:10 p.m. Eastern Time.
---Perry
BetWWTS.com
Let?s make one thing perfectly clear: Drivers are athletes, too.
It?s pretty easy when watching a NASCAR race to forget that inside those stock cars, the human beings at the wheel are driving their vehicles in much the same way as Albert Pujols swings a bat, or Peyton Manning throws a football. The cover of this February?s ESPN The Magazine featuring the muscular Carl Edwards illustrates this. It?s a powerful image; the men we remember from the previous generation of racers were, for the most part, older and less concerned with low body-fat percentages. Then again, the same can be said for many sports.
Not only do more drivers have the same physical characteristics as ?conventional? athletes, they also have the same financial motivations. Take Kevin Harvick, for example. The California native is in the final year of his contract with Richard Childress Racing. Rival teams are reportedly lining up to sign the 2001 Rookie of the Year to a big-money deal. Other athletes can be counted on to perform to the best of their abilities during so-called contract seasons. Handicappers can expect the same dedication from Harvick.
It?s been quite a week for the man from Bakersfield. Harvick swept both the Nextel Cup race and the Busch Series race at Phoenix International Raceway, the first driver ever to pull off the feat in Phoenix. His victory at the Subway Fresh 500 also put Harvick in eighth place in the driver?s standings. It was his fourth Top-10 finish in a row after a slow start.
The pressure will build on Harvick at Sunday?s race, the Aaron?s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The race comes the day after what would have been Dale Earnhardt?s 55th birthday; Harvick replaced Earnhardt on the RCR team after the legendary driver was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. However, Harvick has not yet been able to find the same success at Talladega that his predecessor did. None of Harvick?s six career Nextel Cup wins have come there, or at any other race with restrictor plates. That leaves Harvick in sixth place on the odds list at +1200 to take the checkered flag on Sunday.
Money isn?t the only motivating force for athletes. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has chosen to honor his father this weekend by having all his DEI team?s cars painted black. That includes Earnhardt?s own No. 8 as well as the No. 1 car being driven by rookie Martin Truex, Jr. The visual effect of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. racing in a car with the same paint scheme as his father?s old No. 3 will bring a tear to the collective eye of the millions of NASCAR fans who still worship ?The Intimidator.?
The younger Earnhardt has also followed in his father?s footsteps by excelling at the fine art of restrictor-plate racing. The senior Earnhardt won this week?s event (formerly known as the Winston 500) three times, while Earnhardt Jr. took first place in 2002 and 2003. The combination of past success and present circumstances has ?Little E? on top of the odds list at +400 to match his father?s win total.
Earnhardt could certainly use a win. Although he?s currently in sixth place in the driver?s standings, he has yet to taste victory this season, and he only has one first-place finish under his belt since 2004. That?s the same kind of slump Jeff Gordon has had to endure. The four-time Cup champion won the last two Aaron?s 499 races, but has just one victory to his credit since then. Perhaps he will find his mojo somewhere on the Talladega track. Gordon is getting +500 odds to do so.
Not that previous success at Talladega guarantees you short odds this Sunday. All athletes eventually must succumb to the effects of age; drivers are no different, although their careers can last a lot longer. Mark Martin is one of those old salts whose numbers seem to be dwindling in the face of younger and better-conditioned drivers, although he?s proving he can still get the job done, currently sitting in fourth place in the standings. The 47-year-old won this event in 1995 and 1997. Throw in Roush Racing?s recent track record and Martin?s consistency thus far in 2006 (his worst finish was 13th at the DIRECTV 500), and he may be the best value pick for Sunday at +3000. But, like Earnhardt and Gordon, checkered flags have been hard to come by of late. Martin has just one win in each of the past two seasons.
The green flag is set to fly at 1:10 p.m. Eastern Time.
---Perry
BetWWTS.com
